Almost 20,000 extra patients crammed into the North East’s struggling A&E departments at the beginning of winter, we can reveal today.

In total, 100,000 people visited the area’s emergency departments in December.

Data from NHS Digital shows that there were 107,901 attendances at our A&E units between December 1 2016 and January 2017 - an increase of almost 20,000 on the same period the year before.

But the number emergency admissions to hospitals - where a patient is admitted following their A&E visit - slightly decreased, with 27,844 from December 6 2015 and January 4 2016 dropping to 26,548 in 2016/17.

The figures suggest that, while experiencing huge volumes of people coming through the doors, numbers of those deemed serious enough to remain in hospital actually fell.

The Royal Victoria Infirmary hospital (RVI) in Newcastle

So how did each hospital trust fare?

• A&E attendances at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust doubled - from 14,751 in December 2015 to 29,502 in December 2016.

• South Tyneside’s NHS trust had an increase of more than 2,000 - from 7,060 to 9.199.

• Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust saw a drop in A&E attendances of more than 1,500 - 21,702 to 20,073.

• Gateshead Health and City Hospitals Sunderland also had slight decreases from 2015 to 2016.

Cramlington hospital

Despite seeing a lower number of A&E attendances, the Northumbria trust, which runs the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington , experienced an increase of more than 2,000 emergency admissions.

It was the only NHS trust in the region, other than South Tyneside to see a rise in this type of admissions.

County Durham and Darlington’s dropped from 8,460 to 6,520, while Gateshead’s emergency admissions fell from 2,943 to 2,089 and Newcastle’s decreased from 7,019 to 6,517.

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The NHS in the region saw peaks in demand following the Bank Holiday periods with 4,813 major A&E attendances and 1,022 emergency admissions on 27 and 28 of December. This was followed by a further peak after New Year with 4,418 major A&E attendances on 3 and 4 of January and 1,024 emergency admissions.

As the region’s health services faced “unprecedented demand”, the latest figures show Northumbria Healthcare experiences its worst A&E waiting times in December since recent records began.

A doctor on a hospital ward (Image: PA)

The figures available show 87% of the trust’s patients waited less than four hours before being discharged, admitted or transferred in December.

This was the trust’s worst performance since the measure went monthly in June 2015.

In December, none of the hospital trusts covering the North East met the 95% target for four hour waits for the second month in a row.

Every North East hospital trust missed the A&E target - 95% of patients waiting less than four hours from arrival to discharge, admission or transfer - in November.

The worst A&E performance that month was County Durham and Darlington at 91.8%. South Tyneside - 92.1% - has missed the target for 13 months.

But the region escaped the worst of the winter crisis, with no A&E departments being forced to shut their doors.

Across England, just 86.2% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E within four hours of arrival in December, below the 95% target, according to the latest figures published by NHS England.

Cramlington hospital

David Evans chairs one of the region’s A&E delivery boards and is chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

On behalf of all NHS providers in the North East, he said: “The whole of the North East is continuing to experience one of our busiest winters on record and we’d like to thank every member of staff for their tireless efforts.

“Every trust in the region, without exception, is facing unprecedented demand for emergency services – situations that are being replicated in hospitals across the country.

“During extremely busy periods, some of our biggest receiving A&E departments in the region have called upon other trusts for help and support with ambulances diverted to other hospitals to ensure the highest standards of safety and care.

“This is routine business at times of peak demand and forms part of our proactive winter planning.

“We’d also like to reiterate our plea to members of the public to only use emergency services if you really need them to enable our busy teams to focus their efforts on those people with serious or life-threatening emergencies.

“If you need urgent medical advice the free NHS 111 is available 24/7 and can also advise on access to out-of-hours GP services.”

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Andy Beeby, medical director at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, said “The past few weeks have seen our services coming under increasing pressure and facing what is probably unprecedented demand.

“Our staff have been working tirelessly to treat thousands of patients coming into our Emergency Care Centre and moving through the wards across the hospital.

“Our winter escalation plan has helped us manage some of these pressures but I’d like to remind the public to use Emergency services responsibly and appropriately. For more minor medical issues please make an appointment with your GP, access your out of hours GP service, call 111 or visit your local pharmacist.

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“Nationally, this is being recognised as the most challenging winter period yet and I am proud to say that in Gateshead, while we are also feeling the strain, our people continue to show fantastic resilience and commitment. I’d like to publicly thank our staff at the hospital and in the community for continuing to provide outstanding care and compassion to our patients.”